Teachers have an innate ability to see and hear things that no one else can see. It’s a bit like a superpower. Generally, it’s behavioural issues, conflict or negative comments between students that we somehow pick up. We can turn around just at the moment the apple is about to go flying through the courtyard or catch that sly comment as we walked past a group unaware of the rest of their conversation. So often, it goes unnoticed to most.
We’re great at catching kids out when they do the wrong thing.
Although this superpower can be helpful at times, our day can quickly fill with multiple interactions of the negative variety. Yes, it can be draining and a little demoralising.
So, let’s flip it and use our superpower in a way that rewards everyone, including ourselves.
If I walked through your classroom tomorrow, I would nearly guarantee that the large percentage of kids are continually doing the right thing.
If that’s the case, what are you doing about that? Unfortunately, we often just take it for granted until something goes wrong.
Your challenge is to ‘catch the kids being good’ and make a point of it. Don’t just point it out to the kid you catch, but before you go home that night, take 5 minutes to make a quick call home. Yes, you’re busy, but that 5 minutes will pay you back 10-fold. Every school that I know wants to build strong relationships with their parent community and there’s no better way than telling them about a fantastic effort from their child. It just might also help that next time you need to make a tricky phone call.
If you take the time and effort to catch the kids being good, your students won’t be the only one who gets that little lift. It might just make your day that little better.
